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I'm going to argue again in favour of alcohol fuelled steam cars.

I'm a bit hazy on this but I'm under the impression that if you haven't eaten certain foods for a long time or ever you stomach my not have the necessary enzymes to digest them.

Its how economic realty works. Otherwise we'd extend HS2 to Penzance and John O'Groats. And maybe even Southend-on-Sea ;-) That last sentence is flippant - I grew up there and some people see it as the ends of the earth in competition with Cromer. It actually has a brilliant train service, as...

A classic example of the UK losing its bottle. It was a much better design than the decades later Pendolinos but a few railway hating journalists caused it to be abandoned. Having said which, the HST's actually did everything our railway network with its relatively short distances between...

Happens surprisngly often. There was a spate of it in the UK a couple of decades ago with thieves trying to nick stuff, primarily from trains carrying new cars - radios and such I guess. And then there is the idiot train surfers. Definitely not a nice way to go - but probably worse if you...

This chap's obviously never had them infesting his home. As I say, I don't like killing them, and I think I've said elsewhere it will be either rats or cockroaches that will take over the planet after humans have immolated themselves. But really. Rats are simply not good neighbours and even...

In the 1940's the numbers only referred to the local exchange, lets say Warmington-on-sea had under a thousand subscribers, the numbers wouldn't exceed three digits. To get to another exchange you would have to contact the operator (dial 0 IIRC), ask for a trunk call, know the name of the...

We should have a Bullseye topic. It's bizarre how it, possibly one of the lowest rent TV game shows ever, still has a following and is constantly reshown when other much more sophisticated game shows of the time have disappeared without trace. I used to wonder how many times the two winning...

I had a fair bit to do with Russia around 2000 - we had a team of programmers in St Petersburg for a while, and I visited several times. Moscow as well. St Pete's in particular was quite enjoyable and fairly Westernised then. It's a shame to hear things have deteriorated since.

I'm with you on that one. I have enough trouble sleeping as it is.

Although I'm happy to eat meat I do so hate killing off rats ad mice. Just despatched one today. It has to be done because they are so destructive and major germ spreaders. But I don't feel good about it. I think it is partly because they are so intelligent looking. Inconsistent I know.

Yes, I've read it. It's good, not great. They are mostly supernatural stories, not ghost stories, and it's a bit derivative of M R James. Well scary though :-) Cwm Garon I remember being particularly spooky.

A fellow hat wearer as well.

I'm really enjoying this book. It's kind of a canal ghost index. I have an awareness of two not mentioned, one at Whixall Moss on what is now the Llangollen canal, and one at Husbands Bosworth tunnel on the 'old Grand Union'. I haven't the details to hand, sadly.

Can't agree with that. Having more than two children, maybe yes. Although even today accidents happen.

HMS Tyger. Brilliant name. If I was pressganged I'd much rather be on HMS Tyger than, say, HMS Queen Charlotte.

Let me be blunt, as an IT professional for 40 years with specialties in data analysis / data protection. A sufficiently motivated black hat hacker will always be ahead of the security systems. Recently in a relatively peaceful world only individuals have had that motivation. Hence the Dark Web...

I'm not sure we've actually extended potential human lifespan, just made it more likely that an individual will 'max out' as it were.

If I can go a bit metaphysical - could it be that nature/Gaia/God(s) will not permit overcrowding? My info on this is sadly dated and only gleaned from dodgy sources, but I understood that mammals like rats stop breeding when a certain level of overcrowding is reached? I don't know of any...

I get annoyed that when they issue updated editions they omit parts of the earlier versions that were written by the man himself. . Was apparently not the easiest guy to get on with but in my top ten of people I'd have loved to have a chat with. He might be worth having a topic of his own. He...

I don't think burglars are struggling in the UK. . In the US, they just shoot them. Bear in mind I've lived in both places. Never even bothered to lock our doors in the US.

Rather than abolishing cash I think we'd be better off if we abolished banks. After all most of the human race managed without them until a few decades ago.

You never met my wife. She was, let us say, a forceful personality. In the nicest way. I'm something of a loner - to have someone one in my life who could engage pretty much anyone on anything was a revelation (if that's the right word)

And also get down into the freezing cold canal to cut the fishing lines off the propeller. But yes, I had a hat on. I usually do. TBH I don't know why Trina didn't want to drive the boat - she was a petrol head on land. I think she enjoyed the opportunity to chat with whoever else was hanging...

In the case of cats surely we are their 'service animals' ? Given the other uses of the word 'servicing' the whole thing seems fraught with misunderstanding - as euphemisms always are. How does one pronounce Buc-ees?

I've not been on the canals for over a decade since my wife died (no crew to work the locks ;-) ) but I do remember the appalling state of the towpath in places. One that is (or was) pretty good is the restored part of the Montgomery canal south from Queens Head bridge - I walked it several...

US English and UK English continue to diverge apace. What the heck is a 'service animal'?

I've received my copy. Only just dipped in to it so far but looks good. As mentioned above I've had a few canal holidays so quite familiar with some places covered.. If we don't have a topic for canal ghosts (not fictional ones) this seems like a good place to mention any not covered by the book?

This will interest me. I love canals and the three best holidays of my live have been on the English (and Welsh) canals - but they can be enormously spooky at night. Stillness, remoteness etc. Edit: Have ordered.

Works very well - there are two schemes in Snowdonia originally used to balance loads from nuclear power stations but work equally well for storing solar or wind. They pump water from a lower lake to an upper lake off peak and then release the water back down on high demand. The failure to...

I would give worlds to go back to lying next to my late wife listening to her snoring. Snore on, Ms @catseye

TBF I've been drinking like a fish since I was 16. Not sure why I'm not dead, let alone being in half decent health. But we are all different. I was going to say my drinking had led to some seriously bad decisions, but it was also responsible for me being with my wonderful wife of 25 years...

I've tried treating myself with LSD. Can't recommend. Sooner or later one has a bad trip and that undoes anything positive because for some reason the bad trips - which can be worse than any horror movie - stick I guess its the same as remembering all the things you could have done better in...

But that misses the point. Will it deploy in an emergency if the car is still moving? If not it doesn't count as a second brake.

Well, we do have some though. Unfortunately the current financial incentives favour repurposing productive farmland rather than, for example, marshland or linksland.

I thought legally in the UK a car had to have two independent braking systems?

Even wind farms work better in deserts as the winds are more predictable. The US - you know, the terrible oil burners and polluters according to some - had desert wind farms back in the 1990's.

A very bad part of me is saying 'lucky bastard' .Another part is saying predatory manipulative swine. But seriously, it can't be a marriage in the true sense, can it? The cultural differences between a 17 year old and a 75 year old make it impossible even in the highly unlikely case there is a...

I was in the US at the time so didn't know. Interesting.

Jingo is ok - the Patrician and Nobby are particularly good in it. It's actually anti-colonial and anti-nationalism. In pTerry's usual way, of course. I have to admit the Guards books considered as a series are my favourites, although I myself thought Night Watch was the weakest in that...

Just like men. Surely the observation that there are nice people and nasty people is cross sexual? If there is such a word. Violence attached thereto is mostly male, however.

From a lot of experience of controlling males in management - no they are not seriously violent. Unless challenged by someone who doesn't buy their bullsh*t. But, in my experience again, they don't know how to deal with someone who isn't fazed by the threats.

Females are far less likely to be seriously violent, so the serial killer psychopathic stereotype almost never applies - the only one I can think of is Joanna Dennehy.

I'll believe it when I see it. I have seen so many developers get away with this sort of thing.

Middle names in my family are a heritage thing. Boys always have Charles or Henry (Henri) as a reflection of our alleged descent from the Bonnie Prince. I've also got John because given the age of my parents when I was born they didn't expect another child. But 5 years later they did have...

I personally miss both RJ and Trev (and one or two others further back who couldn't refrain from politics) . They didn't just post on politics. I myself struggle not to stray out of bounds at times, not least because my view of things is in some respects out of line with the current zeitgeist...

IMO Equal Rites is the weakest of the books, and Sourcery not much better. Sir pTerry was feeling about there I think trying to evolve from the outright parody of the first two books into a satirical style of his own. Strange that Mort is in between those two. I think TP got kind of fed up...

Actually I'd have been interested to hear him speak. He must - in his own mind - have had some reason for believing what he did. I'm pretty sure from what I have heard of him that he wasn't just a straightforward anti-Semite however unpalatable his views. And I'm not really in favour of...

South East Essex (where I grew up) seems underrepresented as well. I'd have thought at least the well known Southend Cemetery 'brown ghost' would be there.

Actually that makes a lot of sense. I have had problems with fingers on that hand curling up of their own accord recently due to the progression of my spinal injury.